“Nigeria has had a complicated colonial
history”…Chinua Achebe 1930 - 2013 Nigerian Author and poet. Author of Things fall apart.
History.
There
is hardly a Nigerian family that doesn’t wish that at least one of their kids
grew up to someday become a doctor. Beyond the apparent stereotype of a
doctor’s heroic splendor, they really are brilliant by virtue of their
training, and one impressive common sense trait they have is inquiring a
patient’s medical history.
Relating
this to Nigeria, which is no doubt not in the best state of health, it would be
rather unfair to consistently criticize her without taking a sacred journey
back into her history in order to fully understand her, and then possibly, like
a doctor, diagnose her, and possibly find a cure.
“No problem can be solved from the same level
of consciousness that created it”…Albert Einstein 1879 - 1955 German born theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics.
Corruption.
It may
seem too early to bring this up, but if we want to hold our heads up high as
people of honour and integrity, we might as well be honest with ourselves. No
matter how hard we try to conceal or deny it, Nigeria has amassed an enormous
reputation for being corrupt and surprisingly financially dull, and by
implication unnecessarily wasteful, plunging Nigeria into economic crisis,
which now resembles sabotage designed to annihilate the country.
“If a country is to be corruption free and
become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key
societal members who can make a difference. They are the mother, father and the
teacher”…A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 1931 - 2015 11th president of India.
It is
true that you cannot give what you do not have; it sure tallies with the type
of leadership that has steered the ship of the nation without any meaningful
results to show, which is not only shameful but also absolutely destructive.
“Many people are looking for the answers to what
is wrong with the world today. The answer could be quite simple. It is all about the worldview.
It is how we see the world around us and what we, as
humanity, make our top priority. If our worldview resonates with the natural
order and the laws that govern the Universe, then we are able to find harmony
in life. If our worldview is distorted, the Nature will try to do its best to
guide us back to the path of spiritual evolution through accidents, problems
with health, personal and professional life.
If we want to find the solution to the material
problems, we need to look on the next level of consciousness, on the level of
higher consciousness. In order to change the world around us, we
first need to identify what is wrong with it, and not only on the material
level since it is quite obvious, but also on the level of higher consciousness”...Dmitriy (Life script doctor)
“Democracy must be built through open societies
that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When
there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no
rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and
indignation”…Atifete Jahjaga 1975 - . 4th president of Kosovo.
Mediocrity!
A
school of thought describes madness as a repetition of a certain process while
expecting a different result. You certainly cannot plant corn and expect to
harvest yam, otherwise nature seizes to be fair. This scenario seems to be the
exact ‘happening right now’ in Nigeria. So many things have gone so wrong that
we fail to realize that we need to come out clean so that we can know how to
tackle our innate problems.
For
instance we know that in Nigeria, round pegs are being forced into square
holes, people are placed in high offices regardless of their competence making
intelligence our blind spot, and by extension what you see is what you get. We
are being over-charged for issuance of passports and licenses without proper
accountability, despite the general low earning power of Nigerians.
The arms of
government that happen to be cost centers are very ill funded because some
government officials divert the funds and no one is held accountable while the
nation further crumbles, yet we award jobs and contracts based on tribal
sentiments. Do you want to see how the camel’s back broke? Imagine the way food
items meant for IDPs were deprived the needy and taken some place else to be
sold. We all know what’s going (wr)on(g), yet we keep quiet, and surprisingly,
we complain that things aren’t working well, seriously?
“In all cities, the better classes – the
business men, are the sources of corruption, but they are so rarely pursued and
caught that we do not fully realize whence the trouble comes”…Lincoln Steffens 1866 - 1936 New York reporter.
Complacence!
I’ve
read many articles and even watched countless interviews where successful
people talk about how they stayed hungry even after surpassing their targets,
but it surprises me how extremely satisfied the Nigerian government seems to be
even after achieving absolutely nothing.
Nigeria
is like a host of an open season where it is a free for all affair. The foreign
investors strike back door deals, the rich folks front for several government
officials and get mega deals and illegal waivers, those in the corridor of
power siphon the national treasury without proffering any practical economic
relief for the masses even as simple as basic amenities, and to top it all,
they take all the stolen monies out of the economy weakening it, and import
expensive liabilities further impoverishing the people, and wait for it, they
also oppress poor people that didn’t get the same opportunity they did, hmm.
Nigeria really needs to take a cue from developed nations where young people really do have a future without the senior citizens interfering in the affairs meant for youths to research and blend in for the future. It seems Nigerians are stuck in the past and have grossly failed to evolve, destinies are so well delayed that it seems the country is structured for the citizens to fail, or not make a headway until they are old, thats why old folks call the shots, so much for "godfatherism".
“Truth hurts, but lies can kill”…Karen Marie
Moning 1964 - . American Author.
Truth hurts!
Are you
still with me on the doctor story? Well another thing the doctor does is hurt
you now so you can feel much better later. He gives you bitter pills, painful
injections or life-threatening procedures to rectify a problem in your system
in order for you to live. You cannot be sick and then hide it because it could
be the end of you. So rather than to keep managing the poor health of Nigeria,
lets get a doctor to diagnose her and treat her so she gets better in all
aspects.
Criticism
has its highs and lows, sometimes intriguing, but at other times it can be lackluster,
yet imperative though, and hence in some way effective.
God
bless Nigeria!
Thank
you, and be awesome because you
truly are.
Akin
Abimbola.
Twitter: @akinzogee
Facebook: Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola
Instagram: Akinzogee
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Sources: Brainy Quote, Google, Good reads, Learning mind, Wikipedia
This article is an
original piece, which was reasonably researched contains considerable opinion
and is composed in a unique style of the author.
The names in actual
stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are fictional. Consequently,
people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news
that are typically referenced.
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